


Whispers to Orion

by ItsShayJay



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:00:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28278798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsShayJay/pseuds/ItsShayJay
Summary: Inadvertently, they both wished for their own Christmas miracles at the same time.Because we have all wished upon the stars at some point of our lives.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Comments: 10
Kudos: 53
Collections: Secret Sanvers | A Sanvers Winter Holiday 2020 Event





	Whispers to Orion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JessAnn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessAnn/gifts).



> A Secret Sanvers gift to the incredibly talented Jess. Hope you get to enjoy this work as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Happy Holidays!
> 
> All errors are purely my own.

Ever since she could recall, Alex has always been a fan of the night sky. The family house on the outskirts of Midvale allowed her to bathe in the spectacular constellations displaying right above the ocean. As a kid, she would lay down on her father’s shoulder and play connect the dots with the brightest stars; as she grew, she started to trace the constellations and call out the names of every celestial body that formed them.

She would dream about flying across them and wondered about the lives and the secrets they may hide. She talked to them whenever she couldn’t sleep, trusted them with her worries and confided them her fears. They soothed her in a way no person could. Not her classmates, not her teachers, not her parents. No one could understand her the way the glittered sky could.

It was a winter, however, that Alex first wished upon them. It had been years since she started asking her parents to meet an alien. Said request came after she first saw E.T., claiming incessantly that if Elliot could have an alien best friend that came straight from the stars, she could befriend one too. As Alex grew, she made peace with the fact that said request was out of her parent’s hands, yet the sentiment always stayed there. It wasn’t a desire brought by loneliness; she could barely grasp the concept of said word, but she yearned to have someone to share everything she knew, to take care of.

Seeing the movie again 5 years later on Christmas Eve, she remembered her late grandfather telling her that the stars always listened, and that they were kind enough to gift to those who were sweet of heart and of noble soul. So, right before the dawn of her 13th Christmas, she tiptoed past the lighted up tree and, sneaking through the backdoor, she sat on the front lawn, quickly spotting Orion’s Belt barely shining through the sun’s presence.

Alex whispered her wish three times, the same one directed to the three visible stars in hopes one of them could hear how much she wanted to have a piece of the universe with her forever. Her mother, who noticed she was outside the second the backdoor opened, approached her quietly and guided her back inside, offering Alex a cup of warm milk as she gushed about getting a moon rock or a meteorite.

‘‘Who knows, my dear, maybe the universe will get you something from out there soon. While we wait for it to get here though, how about a telescope to watch it?’’ Eliza said as she walked her into the living room where Jeremiah was trying to assemble the astronomy device. It was, by far, the best Christmas gift she had ever got.

She never thought, however, that the stars would grant her wish in the form of an alien sister just a few months later.

***

Maggie was never a fan of snow. It didn’t help that Nebraska would always be covered in it before December even arrived, with the slippery streets and the winter colds lasting way longer than they should, but never enough for her to grow accustomed to it. She always wondered why they wouldn’t go down to her parent’s home country when the most bitter parts of winter would come, why they had to spend the holidays shoveling snow and thawing the pipes when instead they could be having her Abuela’s tamales and pierna de cerdo. But Oscar was always insistent that they were Americans and they should celebrate the Americans way, the fresh pine trees and the turkey and the pumpkin pie every year without excuse.

It was finally at the age of 14 that she was considered big enough to fly down to Mexico for the winter break. Maggie had the time of her life. She absolutely loved every second spent time with her cousins practicing her Spanish, helping her abuelo tend the gardens and accompanying her tía Marta bargain her way to fresh ingredients at the local market. But most of all, she enjoyed sitting on the couch next to her abuela and listen to her stories, from tales of her children to secrets of her younger days, all while she prepared iced teas and lemonades to cool her off after playing all afternoon under the sun.

So, finding herself alone just one year later inside her tia Clara’s house while a blizzard made its way through Blue Springs on Christmas Eve, she allowed herself to hate snow. It had been 10 months since Maggie was first dropped off at her tia’s, 10 months since she talked to her father, 10 months since she last hugged her mother. It was rough, at first. She couldn’t sleep the first couple weeks. Her classmates evade her like plague while her teachers will either look at her with disdain or, best case scenario, pity.

Her tia, bless her soul, had tried her best with what she had. Married at 21 and widowed 3 years later, she wasn’t one to be nurturing, yet she always treated Maggie with care and compassion. She never let anyone so much as try to speak ill of her, and Maggie couldn’t be more grateful. But her tia could only do so much, and her niece’s sudden arrival had taken a toll on her. Clara never uttered a word, but Maggie knew she had to take a second job to make ends meet the week she moved in. Said second job being the reason her tia was trapped in town for the duration of the snowstorm.

Maggie had never felt so alone. She remembered her abuela telling her the story of the Biblical Magi, three kings who travelled all the way to Bethlehem in order to bear gifts to Jesus for his birth. Those gifts would become both what they needed and what they truly yearned for. For modern times, she said, it was a second opportunity to give out the best one could offer, without motives or intentions. Maggie wished nothing more than to be given a second chance.

She hugged her knees and allowed herself to cry at what she lost and could never get back. At being only acknowledged by just one person in the entire town. At being a girl who wasn’t really a girl, an American who wasn’t really American. At being someone that caused shame to the ones she loved most. She cried until she could barely catch a breath and calmed herself until she fell asleep on the couch.

A hand on her shoulder woke her up a couple hours later. The blizzard seemed long past now, and the night looked as if it hadn’t just brought 5 more inches of snow. Her tia apologized for startling her as she finished taking off her boots and coat in the small living room. She then took a present out of her bag, a brown envelope wrapped up in a red ribbon.

‘‘I’m sorry I couldn’t make it earlier and make you a proper dinner on Nochebuena,’’ She said while placing the gift in front of Maggie, smiling softly through the tiredness. ‘‘I know today hasn’t been the greatest, so I thought I’d give you your Christmas a bit earlier.’’

Maggie took the present and found two set of documents. The first one being from a bank, stating the process on how to open a savings account and other financial advices for minors. The second set was a guardianship form to consent having her aunt Clara as her legal guardian.

‘‘I know I don’t have a lot to offer. I cannot make disappear the amount of pain you have endured, but I can help you move on from it. That’s what the savings account is for, so that when you finish school you can get out of this town. A fresh start, wherever you want. As for the guardianship form, it’s really a formality, so you don’t have to fill it out if you don’t want to. Just know that I’m here for you mija, I’ll be there whenever you need me.’’

She hadn’t hugged anyone since February, her tia used to limit herself to a pat on the shoulder or a squeeze on her elbow. But Maggie had felt so lonely for so long, aching for a touch that wasn’t filled with anger or repulsion or pity, that she awkwardly hugged her tia as best as the table between them allowed her to. Clara patted her head in a chance to sooze her, wishing her a merry Christmas under her breath.

As she was being held, Maggie looked out to the window and saw the three stars her abuela used to say where the three kings. She knew it was actually named the Orion’s belt, but Maggie never had the heart to correct her. Her abuela was so proud to show them that she just complied. As she saw the thousand years old flash, she sent out the last prayer she would utter to a religion she never believed in.

She wished to be finally loved.

***

The both of them grew older and took for young innocence the faith they put on some near dying stars up in the sky.

At first, because they never felt the need to. Alex spent years understanding what being an alien’s big sister was, and even more so learning how to protect said sister from nemesis and villains and even herself one she became a superhero. Maggie, for her part, had the goal set in getting the hell out of Nebraska. She knew her vocation was becoming a police officer, and as years went by, to make the Science Division a respectable department where they gave justice to the extraterrestrial immigrants. 

When they found each other, it was the best thing they had ever felt. The easiness of their nature, the constant tease, the fun dates, the mind-blowing sex, the sweet cuddles, the devotion and protection for one another; it was everything they could have ever asked for.

But then it wasn’t anymore, because they were no longer right for each other.

And that had been the coldest winter either of them had ever felt.

***

It took time, but Alex learned how to keep herself warm during the holidays that followed their break-up. It helped that Kara was there by her side as much as she could. It also helped the way she learned to be more comfortable and authentic to herself. But she always felt the chills beneath her bones after no longer having a pair of arms just a tad smaller than hers wrap her up. She always felt her apartment was too quiet when before she would wake up because of clatters in the kitchen or singing from her bathroom. She knew deep down that no matter what she did or who she was seeing or how much she would get used to it, she would never recover from the loss of Maggie. 

***

For Maggie, the ache and despair dulled after some years. She learned the hard way that she had to choose herself before anything else, and so she left National City and didn’t turn back. The eeriness and disaster that was Gotham kept her busy for a good while, and even though she despised learning that most of her coworkers had a price for their loyalty, the job, so long as the villains and vigilantes stayed on their side, reinforced her best qualities and made her develop new ones. But one can live surrounded by chaos for so long, and an offer to return to a more specialized, more resourceful and more rewarding science department on NC presented itself in a time of need. . She would have been lying to herself if she didn’t think of Alex soon as the job came up. But Alex was both a wonderful and painful memory, but a memory nonetheless. But fall had arrived and she was never a fan of the snow even after all those years, so it only took her a week to pack up and make her way back to California. The second she stepped foot on that messy city she used called home, she knew that her soul had already learned to love itself.

***

It was Christmas morning that they found each other again.

The situation wasn’t the most ideal, a threat of a terrorist attack aimed at the governor involving Grolls’ weaponry was an all hands on deck type of resolve. They didn’t even have time for pleasantries before they were given a gun and were sent out in the field. 

It took a 10-feet throw to the agent, a first degree burn for the detective and half of a National City’s landmark turned to literal dust for the attack to be resolved. The perpetrators were contained and no civilians were hurt.

But it had been years, Since Alex last layed eyes on Maggie and she was right there and was hurt and taken into an ambulance and so the agent strode out of hers just to check up on the detective. And Alex didn’t feel a thing when the blast hit her compared to the ache on her chest she felt as she saw Maggie up close and saw her banged up to her ribs. She knew her hands were trembling when re-checking Maggie’s dressings because she was impossibly more beautiful than the last time she saw her, with her hair a bit shorter and her eyes a bit wiser. She was positive the babbling and the lightheadedness wasn’t from the landing, but because of Maggie telling her she was okay and she looked alright for just being thrown out in the air and ‘‘seems like we’ve run a full circle, Danvers’’ with the dimples on display.

She didn’t process it when she asked the detective to let her compensate her with a post-battle brunch, that the superfriends would be delighted to see her and welcome her back with a beer and a peach mojito. She was dumbfounded when she got a yes in return.

A brunch turned into a walk the next day and a walk into a tour inside the DEO new headquarters and the re-linking of the organization with the PD the following week. Before the snow melted, they were once again discussing alien cases over beers. By mid-spring, the tabs on the bar were covered by whoever would lose at pool by the end of the week. It took a summer fling, a dozen promises and one miraculous chance to bring them back together.

They were more guarded this time. More meticulous about decisions and more open about all that wasn’t said before. And that made them more resilient, more passionate, more loving.

And they were the greatest they had ever been. 

***

The day they dared to wish upon the stars again, they were alone.

They had chosen to finally give themselves a break outside of their home, opting to finally take their well deserved vacations someplace that neither of them had ever gone to. 

They chose South America because it was the furthest they could go inside the 5 minute super-flying gap Kara allowed them to.

They opted to go to northern Chile in order to explore the beaches and cities and volcanoes around. Maggie couldn’t be more grateful to celebrate Christmas during the summer.

And there they found themselves with a group of tourists camping somewhere in the Atacama desert. They had mugs filled with wine and stomachs stuffed with chickpeas, oysters and kuchen as they waited for the night to settle. A fire was made and most of the travellers rejoiced in singing, dancing and sharing stories with one another as they waited for the darkness to fully fill the sky above them.

Once the stars took over, Maggie took Alex by the hand and pulled her apart of the group, wanting to enjoy a time of quietness with the woman she loved. Maggie sat and pulled Alex to her lap, wrapping them up in shawls to protect them from the cold breezes that passed every now and then. The agent nuzzled her head onto the detective’s hair and looked up to the immensity of the universe above the.

‘‘When I was a kid, I wished for the Orions belt to give me an alien best friend. I would spend so much time looking up at the night sky that I wanted to be a part of it all, so, at the time, having an alien was the most logical way to do so. ’’ Alex said.

‘‘Never thought it would come in the way of a super powered sister, huh?’’ Maggie replied.

‘‘I mean, Kara is a handful sometimes but she’s a lot better than the E.T. I hoped for.’’ she laughed. ‘’But it did grant me that wish, the stars I mean. I don’t know why I never asked for anything again.’’

‘‘My abuela swore the stars on belt were some biblical magi that granted special wishes on Christmas. Used to say that those wishes only come when they’re truly needed.’’ Maggie kissed her forehead. ‘’That they are granted as a redemption rather than a want. I guess that’s why mine took it’s time to get here.’’

‘‘What did you wish for?’’ Alex turned, asking curiously.

‘‘You can’t spill the wishes Danvers, otherwise they ain’t gonna happen.’’ Maggie smirked.

‘‘Oh, come on, I already told you mine, it’s not fair.’’

‘‘Life isn’t fair, sweetie.’’ she laughed as Alex elbowed her playfully. ‘‘How about we make some wishes now, Danvers? We might never watch a night sky as beautiful as this one in a while.’’ The brunette said, shifting so she hugged Alex with one hand and rested the other to her back. ‘‘I promise I’ll tell you this one.’’

The agent searched into the universe displayed in front of her for a minute, trying to find the mentioned constellation. Once she found it, she pointed it to Maggie, ‘’I wish to feel as happy and content as tonight for the rest of my life.’’ she whispered thrice, the exact same way she did all those years ago. 

‘‘Damnit Al, you took the words outta my mouth.’’ Maggie said, kissing the side of her neck.

‘‘Well, you can't take mine, make up your own wish.’’ she giggled.

‘‘Hmm, lets see,’’ she exhaled as she saw Orion's belt perfectly lined above them. ‘‘I wish to start over and do it right that time, to get everything I’ve ever wanted this time around.’’ Alex cuddled deeper into her lover’s chest, trying to feel impossibly closer to her.

‘‘That’s a beautiful christmas wish, Mags. I hope truly you get it.’’

‘‘I mean, it’s up to you really. I want to start over with you.’’ The detective said. Before Alex could express her confusion, Maggie joined both her hands in front of the redhead, a small black box revealing a modest, silver band inside. 

‘‘Would you like to start over and be happy for the rest of your life with me beside you, Al?’’

Alex wasn’t even sure if she sobbed or cried at her lover’s words. But she managed turn and grab Maggie's face between her hands, wiping softly the couple tears that streaked through her cheeks. 

‘‘As if you need to ask.’’


End file.
